Rowing’s final Olympic Champions
Light tail wind conditions coupled with warm water meant that World Best Times were in a position to be broken at Beijing Olympics rowing regatta. The large crowd stood at the ready.
LIGHTWEIGHT WOMEN’S DOUBLE SCULLS (LW2x)
It doesn’t happen in all races that all three crews standing on the medals podium are absolutely happy. It happened today in the first race of day two at the Beijing Olympics rowing regatta.
Germany was the first to show on this second day of Olympic rowing Finals. Marie-Louise Draeger and Berit Carow. Draeger was hoping to make the 2004 Olympics, but missed out on a spot and came back to make the team this year. The Germans still had the lead with 600m rowed, but Canada was sticking tightly to them. In the semifinals Canada’s Melanie Kok and Tracy Cameron had showed that they were fast starters with the power to maintain.
Going through the half-way point Finland had joined the frontrunners. Sanna Sten and Minna Nieminen of Finland know the heartache of just missing out on qualifying for the Olympics. It was just a fraction of a second between qualifying and not qualifying in 2004. Sten and Nieminen have spent the last four years planning for this day. Rating a solid 32 stroke rate the Finns remained with the leaders through the middle of the race. Then late qualifiers the Netherlands joined in. The Dutch duo of Marit van Eupen and Kirsten van der Kolk rowed to bronze in 2004. Then van der Kolk took time off to have a baby. She got talked into coming back to top competition late last year. Meanwhile partner van Eupen has continued her rowing success by taking out three consecutive World Championship titles in the lightweight single.
With just 500m left to row, barely a bow ball separated Germany, Canada, Finland and the Netherlands. All of these crews would have to sprint for their life to stay in the medals. The Dutch kept their strokes long and controlled. Canada peaked at 39 strokes per minute. Finland followed the Dutch style using power and length. Germany went to 37 and hung on.
The Netherlands crossed the line first, hands in the air in delight a Dutch fan already getting past security to swim out. Finland crossed in second looking ecstatic. Canada and Germany waited. They had rowed to a photo finish. A minute later the Canadians felt the joy of winning an Olympic medal.
Results: NED, FIN, CAN, GER, CHN, GRE
Kirsten VAN DER KOLK (NED)
“It’s great! It’s the race we raced over and over in our heads and we did it to perfection here. We kept our heads cool. The gold shoes in the boat definitely helped. We’ve had them there since December and in every training session thought ‘Gold, gold, gold!’”
Marit VAN EUPEN (NED)
“Kirsten reminded me at the start ‘Gold shoes, golden race’.”
Tracy CAMERON (CAN)
“I thought we had the bronze – I saw the big surge. 4/100ths of a second!! We stayed efficient and effective through the middle 1000m and had a fairly effective start. We knew in the last 500m we had to dig a lot deeper. We’ve enjoyed rowing with each other – it’s been fun.”
Melanie KOK (CAN)
“I’m ecstatic – it’s an amazing result. We’ve put something on the board for Canada. Let’s keep the momentum going.”
Chrysi BISKITZI (GRE)
“We were really happy to be in the Final; we’re a very stable crew and have been finalists for the past three years. Of course we hoped for something better, but it’s hard to win the fight for medals. We’ll definitely be at the European Championships in Athens.”
LIGHTWEIGHT MEN'S DOUBLE SCULLS (LM2x)
The British double of Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter finished third at last year’s World Rowing Championships and since then have gone unbeaten. They continued this unbeatable attitude coming into these Olympic Games. This is Purchase’s first Olympic Games and Hunter’s second. Today they took off at the front of the field rating in the high 40s with Italy pressing them hard. Italy crossed the first 500m mark just ahead. But with each stroke the lead changed. Italy rated a bit higher at 36 with the British settling on 34 – 35.
By the half-way point it looked as though Italy were running out of steam. Purchase and Hunter were just getting better and better. Meanwhile Greece’s Dimitrios Mougios and Vasileios Polymeros were moving up with current World Champions Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist of Denmark also taking chase.
Polymeros raced in this event at the Athens Olympics and made history by getting the first Olympic rowing medal for his country - bronze. Quist and Rasmussen also raced at Athens. They finished fourth. They had to return.
Purchase and Hunter had now moved out to a full boat length lead with only Greece in a solid challenging position. The British looked to have this race wrapped up. But there was still 500m left to row. Greece was moving. Denmark took up chase. These boats closed on the British, but the British hung on. Purchase and Hunter had done it. Polymeros confirms his positions as Greece’s most successful rower. Rasmussen and Quist get themselves onto the dais.
Going into the interview dock Hunter shows the strain, barely able to get out of his boat. Purchase shows his emotions as the British flag is raised. Their finishing time was less than a second outside of the World Best Time.
Results: GBR, GRE, DEN, ITA, CHN, CUB
Zac PURCHASE (GBR)
“We put in the hard work when it was needed, so that we could enjoy the last 250m; all according to the race plan. There was no panic. The whole British team is doing so well, with the rowing yesterday, and the swimming and the cycling, and I hope it continues in the second week. It bodes well for four years’ time.”
Dimitrios MOUGIOS (GRE)
“That was a very satisfactory race; this is my first Olympic Games and it’s great to have a medal. We had a good final sprint – if there had been 50m more left we might have won. But now we can’t say anything; GBR won and we were second.”
Rasmus QUIST (DEN)
“Of course you’re never satisfied if you’re 2nd or 3rd, but it hasn’t been working well for us this season. I guess this is the best race we’ve had this year. We had a very good first 1000m but couldn’t go any faster after that. Of course, as World Champions we are disappointed to be third. We’ve been together for 8 years already. Mads (Rasmussen) is going to take a year off and I’m going to try something else – perhaps the LM4-.”
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